WORCESTER - Scientists working at Advanced Cell Technology
Inc.'s Worcester laboratories say they have developed two new lines
of human embryonic stem cells by plucking single cells from early-stage
embryos, a technique that leaves the embryos undamaged and may resolve
some ethical opposition to the field.

The process, disclosed today in the British journal Nature, is the
same technique used to test an embryo for genetic problems. By leaving
an embryo intact and ready for parents to implant, Advanced Cell
officials said, the technique might satisfy certain stem cell opponents
and open the field to more federally backed research.

"The main objection to embryonic stem cell research is, it
deprives embryos of the chance to develop," said Dr. Robert P.
Lanza, Advanced Cell's vice president of medical and scientific
development and an author of the Nature paper. "We can now derive
these stem cell lines without destroying the embryo and destroying its
potential for life."

Some observers, however, said interfering with embryos for
non-therapeutic purposes remains wrong. The technique is used in
pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to determine which embryos to
terminate, and scientists would do better to seek other ways to create
stem cells, said Edward J. Furton, ethicist and director of publications
for the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

"If you can produce an entity, a biological artifact that is
not an embryo and we can be certain of that, and it produces embryonic
stem cells, that would be a solution," Mr. Furton said.

Stem cells are the body's master cells, capable of duplicating
indefinitely and differentiating into various tissues. Embryonic stem
cells are the body's earliest stem cells, found inside an embryo,
or blastocyst, that is four to five days old.

Some researchers believe it might someday be possible to guide
embryonic stem cells to generate tissues that could be transplanted into
humans to treat diabetes, Parkinson's disease and other disorders.
But waiting until the early embryo has stem cells, and pulling them out,
destroys the embryo, a step that some critics oppose.

In the United States, researchers can obtain federal funds to work
on 21 embryonic stem cell lines that were developed before August 2001.
But many researchers consider those lines weak, tainted and snared in
patent issues. President Bush last month used the first and only veto of
his tenure to kill legislation that would have loosened federal funding
for embryonic stem cell research.

"It's tragic that the current Republican Congress
continues to rubber-stamp the restrictions that deny federal funding for
scientists engaged in medical research that could save or improve
countless lives," the senator said.

According to the report in Nature, Advanced Cell scientists started
with 16 leftover embryos that had been created through in vitro
fertilization, or IVF, and donated through a fertility clinic. When the
embryos had divided enough to have just eight to 10 cells each,
scientists used tiny instruments to remove individual pre-stem cells, or
blastomeres.

"It's like a bunch of grapes," Dr. Lanza said.
"You pluck one out."

The technique is the same one used in fertility clinics to test
embryos for genetic diseases before they are implanted in the uterus of
a woman. First used in England in the 1980s, pre-implantation genetic
diagnosis is controversial, but has led to the birth of hundreds of
children.

After plucking blastomeres out of the embryos, Advanced Cell
scientists placed them in a laboratory dish and allowed them to divide.
In two cases, the blastomeres generated embryonic stem cells that
remained stable for eight months. The researchers said they used those
stem cells in additional experiments to produce cells of the blood
system, the liver, the respiratory system and the intestine.

A number of scientific teams are working on ways to generate
embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos. Some scientists have
reported isolating stem cells from adult tissues and jolting them back
to an embryonic state.

Working with mice, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology have developed a technique, called altered nuclear transfer,
in which they cloned mice with genetically altered cells so that mouse
embryos could make stem cells but could not develop into a mouse.

Dr. Lanza said that with the technique used by Advanced Cell
scientists, parents undergoing IVF could have single cells surgically
removed from their embryos and cultured so that some could be tested for
genetic diseases and others could be processed into stem cells. Embryos
could then be implanted in their mothers and the stem cells used for
research or for future medical treatments for the child or his or her
siblings, he said.

The new use of the technique has only positive sides, Dr. Lanza
said, and "the most important positive side is these stem cell
lines are immortal, so they could be used for stem cell research
throughout the world," he said.

Yet while genetic testing appears to cause no harm to embryos, IVF
embryos destined for reproduction should not be subjected to the
procedure just to obtain cells for research, said Laurie Zoloth,
director of the Center for Bioethics, Science and Society at
Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

"I would not think this procedure should be done on embryos
that are used in human reproduction," she said in an e-mail.
"Such deliberate risk would not be acceptable. It is only
acceptable to avoid fatal or very serious genetic disorders."

Alameda, Calif.-based Advanced Cell said it will make the two new
lines of stem cells available to researchers through the United Kingdom
Stem Cell Bank.

For the company, the scientific news comes as it is seeking to
raise up to $11.3 million through the sale of securities known as senior
secured convertible debentures and warrants. Advanced Cell has long
toiled to raise money for its research, which some investors consider
too undeveloped or too vulnerable to political restrictions.

Although the company maintains a significant research operation in
Worcester, it has also established a laboratory in California to
capitalize on any funding that may become available through the
state's plan to funnel $3 billion to stem cell research.

Contact business reporter Lisa Eckelbecker by e-mail at
leckelbecker@telegram.com.

ART: PHOTO; GRAPHIC

PHOTOG: (PHOTO) T&G FILE PHOTO; (GRAPHIC) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CUTLINE: (PHOTO) Dr. Robert P. Lanza, vice president of medical and
scientific development for Advanced Cell Technology Inc. and an author
of the paper on creating stem cells. (GRAPHIC) Plucking a single cell
from an embryo

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